Drug Use and Treatment Initiation Patterns: Differences by Birth-Cohorts

Abstract

Data from Drug Abuse Treatment Outcome Studies (DATOS) were used to examine differences in correlates of early stages of drug use patterns by birth-cohorts and gender. Males showed a steady increase in family problems in each birth cohort, compared to females who showed a higher mean number of family problems in each birth cohort. The findings suggest different correlates of the early stages of drug-use pattern namely; experimentation with drugs before the onset of weekly drug use and early age of escalated or weekly drug use. Experimentation was associated with delayed onset of escalated drug use. "Experimenters" were associated with illegal activities and mental health problems, whereas "early escalators" were associated with childhood and school problems. The positive association of onset of illegal activities and psychological symptoms before the onset of weekly drug use with experimentation and delayed onset of escalated drug use was consistent across gender and birth-cohorts. Similarly, the association of family and school problems with early age of onset of escalated drug use was also consistent across gender and birth cohorts. Treatment providers can benefit from a better understanding of clients' pathways and progression of addiction careers in order to assess their treatment needs.

Marginality among older injectors in today's illicit drug culture: assessing the impact of ageing

“…Such a change in how older injectors maintain their drug use in late adulthood calls attention to how age, period and cohort effects can intersect. As data from the drug abuse treatment studies show (Joshi et al . 2001), each birth cohort of illicit drug users’ initiation into illicit drug use is associated with a particular drug and pattern of use.…”

Developmental timing of first drug treatment and 10-year patterns of drug use

“…Also, the years during which data collection was conducted by the different studies overlap but span several decades, representing distinctly different eras. Some research indicates that there is variation by birth cohort in illicit drug use patterns (Johnson & Gerstein, 1998) and treatment initiation (Joshi et al, 2001). How factors like these may confound the interpretation of results was not explored and constitutes an area for future research.…”

Inicio y progresión en el consumo de sustancias en la población general de Cataluña, España

“…Esto también fue señalado en otro estudio anterior en un contexto más amplio (Colell et al, 2013). Resultados similares se han observado incluso fuera de España o incluso en Europa (Degenhardt, Lynskey y Hall, 2000;Degenhardt, Chiu, Sampson, Kessler y Anthony, 2007;Johnson y Gerstein, 1998;Johnson y Gerstein, 2000;Kerr, Greenfield, Bond, Ye y Rehm, 2004). Dicha tendencia surge en paralelo al cambio del papel de la mujer en la sociedad, con evidencia muy limitada acerca de intervenciones preventivas posibles específicas (Stockings et al, 2016).…”